Driving home from band tonight, I was a witness to an accident. This is partly to tell you guys about it, partly to have a longer written out record than the short statement that was taken.
I was on the North off-ramp from Tonkin Hwy, waiting to turn right onto Guildford road. I usually watch the Guildford Rd lights because I know when they both turn red then my light is about to turn green. Both east and west lights were green. There was a car facing east that was in the middle of the intersection to turn right onto the ramp for Tonkin Hwy. He was slowly moving forward, then paused a bit. I saw out of the corner of my eye a car coming from the east. Guy A rolls forward some more and pauses again. Guy B kept coming, it appeared as though he were going a little fast, maybe 10-15kmph over the 60km limit. Somehow Guy B keeps going and Guy A goes forward too, and they collide. The front right corner of Guy A was squashed in, the car rolled forward about a metre and a half so the front was touching the island in the middle of the ramp. Four guys get out. They are mostly looking west to where the other guy was headed, and I look to see if that guy had stopped or had kept going, since my first impression was he wasn't affected at all. I see Guy B car on the meridian strip in the middle of the road, he was initially in the left lane (there's two lanes both ways) so he must have swerved onto the strip. It's about six? metres from the lights. The three passengers from Car A head over to see if the guy is alright, and the driver hung around a bit. Car A had all this steam/smoke start coming out the engine, and after about 20 sec or so the driver thinks to turn the car off. I head over to Car B to see if they are alright and if anyone needs a phone. I leave my car with hazards on so that noone can collide with Car A that is blocking the lane. One of the Car A passengers is on there mobile, I presume to emergency services, and I hear him say that he thinks the Car B driver has a broken leg. There's only one guy in Car B. He's verbally agro, not swearing but just all like "what the hell were you doing? The lights were green" and stuff like that. He's not screaming from pain, but you can tell he has pain from his breathing. Another passenger was helping him with his mobile to call someone. Apparently his foot is trapped too. There's a lady in a floral dress that has come from somewhere who I thought was just a bystander at first, but then they seem to act familar with the Car B driver and seemed to take on an air of authority a bit. Somewhere a long to line the guy says about his trapped foot and if someone could undo his bootlace to free him a bit. A Car A passenger starts to help him. The lady asks if anyone has a blanket or something, and I mention I have a jacket, so I head back to my car for it. Car A is issueing steam and smoke and stuff, and a fluid is starting to trickle out from under it. It doesn't sound too good. On the advice of Car A people, two or three who are back over at the ramp meridian strip, I moved my car back two or three car lengths so that it's not so close to Car A in case something happens. I leave my car in the road with hazards still. Then I lock my car and take the jacket over to Car B. The lady goes to put the jacket over the guy, and he's all like "Get the fuck away from me, I don't need a jacket". I reckon shock was setting in as well as the agro. So I leave my jacket on the car just in case and head back over to my car. The Car A people were all over there by now, away from Car B. They say that the light was green and that Car B had his left flicker on (like he was going onto the ramp). I didn't see if there was an indicator or not because I didn't look at Car B, I just saw him coming from the corner of my eye. The pausing of Car A would be consistent with the driver not sure if Car B was coming of not. Car B driver of course thought that he had right of way, and from what I saw that's correct. It seemed to me that if Car A had paused one more time, or if Car B hadn't been going so fast, then the accident wouldn't have happened. It looked like they could've avoid each other right up until the smash - I jumped a bit when it happened because I really thought they were both fine until that moment.
My main motivation in staying was to use my car as a safety barrier for Car A and to lend my phone if needed. After I left my jacket and came back to my car, I had the thought that I was witness and should stay in case the Police needed. I called Zig and told him there'd been an accident, it wasn't me, I was just a witness, I'd be home later. An ambulance and a police car turned up, then some more police cars came, and somewhere along the line fire trucks turned up too. They all blocked the intersection mostly off with their emergency vehicles except for east bound guildford. The fire guys went and took care of Car A with it's fluid and hissing and steam/smoke. I went over and fetched my jacket back, since the ambulance people were there, then stood near my car again for a bit. There was another guy who was around when the accident happened but hadn't seen anything, and an authority person eventually gave him clearance to leave. Eventually a police guy came over and asked me to accompany him over toward Car B for a moment. We stood between Car A and Car B on a meridian strip and he asked me what had happened. So I fill him in a bit and he just listens. Then he asks for my details, I hand over my driver's license for ease and he writes them down. I see someone with an orange spray can making dots either side of a skid mark left by Car B when swerving after the smash. Some other police come over, and one says to the guy to grab a pad and a pen and take a statement and where the cars were all going and stuff. So the guy asks me if I've got 10 minutes or so for a statement, and then gets me to go over to the police car and sit in it to give him the statement. He took my name again and asked my D.O.B. He was a little all over the place to begin with, but then managed to take down what I was saying. I kept pausing for him to get it down properly. He stopped in the middle to take a phone call, I think it was from some other police guy seeing if they needed to attended, cos the guy said to them to come down and that he was taking a statement and stuff. At the end he started reading the statement back to me, and two police cam up. He stopped and apologised, saying he needed to speak to his superior. He got out and spoke to the other police, I heard him say where the cars were headed and stuff like I'd just told him, plus some other stuff I didn't hear. Then he got back in the car and read the statement all the way through to me. Then he wrote my name and D.O.B down again at the bottom, and I noticed he spelt my middle name "Cathlene" instead of "Kathleen", so I corrected him. Then he asked me to sign the statement. I read it through, corrected my middle name spelling at the beginning too, and then signed it. He flipped to a new page and said I should write down any other details and so on that I remembered, and I said one or two things like the lady in the floral skirt and similar stuff and should I write that. The guy didn't say yes or no, just let it wash over him and reiterated just any details I remembered that I thought might be important, so I didn't write anything cos he didn't seem to have jumped at anything else I had said. I had asked him a few times if he needed my phone number, from the time he first took my details, and I asked again. He said put it down and my name again above it since it was a new page. Then he thanked me for the statement and took me back over to my car and said he'd check with his superior if it was ok for me to go, called me Kathleen. Poor guy, the whole time it seemed like he was shaken up, like he'd seen the accident instead of me. I felt like i was coaching him a little! He came back over and said I was good to go and thanks again for staying back and giving the statement, and called me Kathleen a few more times - I was giggling a little instead at his manner.
While the statement was happening, the ambulance people were helping Car B guy. He started screaming while he was on the stretcher, and the police guy got distracted and said "why don't they give him something" a few times. I didn't see the lady in the floral dress. A tow truck took Car A away. Someone swept up the masses of glass and automobile bits and pieces. Heading over to my car after, I see that black powder has been laid down over where the fluid from Car A had run.
I got in my car, turned off my hazards, and started the car. THe lights had just turned green for another car, so I chucked my flicker on and went round with them. 5 seconds later I realise I haven't turned my lights on. Whups! I hope that either the pole didn't see, or that they will let it slide under ti circumstances, cos they do have my details! The rest of the drive home was uneventful. So there you have it, the full story. I shall not be double-checking my entry at this time of night for a post of this length, so apologies for any mistakes. I also feel that this is one long post in which I won't lj-cut cos I figure it's kind of important and eventful, so sorry for inconveniences it may cause.
Now to bed. Goodnight
Edit: Happened at about 10-10:30pm. Somewhere there.
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